Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Pete M urray gave Arnet some f ie rce competition in the Open Pro class ending up tak!ng second overall on his GM500 M ·Star. (A bov e) Ed Arnet won the 1 2 5 . 250cc and Open Pro cl asses on three d ifferent brands of bikes. (Below) Arnet and Don Turk t angl e in t he 250s. CMC OtaJ: Pro-Am Challenge MX Arnet sweeps Pros By Rex Reese T IJ UAN A. BC. MEXICO. MAY 25-26 Editor Ed Arnet came close to making a clean sweep of the Pro. classes at the Californ ia Mo tosp ort Club's first Otay Pro-Am Ch allenge Motocross , n ea r T il uana. The fo rm er Yamaha su p p o rt r ider switched off between three bikes • - a Han da CR I2:J. a yama ha YZ250. and a Kawasaki KX500 12 - to claim five out of six motos for the day . O n ly a r un-in with Ian FitzGibbon (Ya m) in th e second 250cc Pro round pu t a damper o n Arner's so u th of - rh e-border adven t u re, ~ i vi ng th e single mota win to Don Turk (Ha n). wh o pl aced second o vera ll in th e class. T he Ot ay Pro -Am was th e crea tio n of a joint effor t betw een CMC and the Baja. Ca liforn ia Department of T ourism . whi ch provided track and logi stical s u ppo~ t C th e event . The track or itseiC was carved o ut oC a small canyon l?cated'n~drth~ campus oft~e Univer- ~1 ~Y of Baja.Ca lifornia, Mexico a nd th e Tiju an a a irport. La yout was o n th e tight side. and track width was narrow . but passing was possible. The starring are a was a lo ng, fifth -gear scream er. ending in a n abru p t left-b ander which sent riders down a sho rt straight. then into a tight-right-hander. before Iiltering them down into the canyo n. Thcre, tra ck sur faces varied from hard-pack. to po wder. to slick mild wh ere too much watering had bcen don e. co m bined wi th several jumps a nd a supercros s-style secrion of whoops. T he first 250cc Pro mo to saw th e first of two stan ing lin e d uels betwe...n Arne t and Turk. Turk took th e lead . with Husqvarna's Charl es Halcomb seco nd . Rick Atkins (Suz) third. a nd Fi tzGib bon , Pete ;\lulTay (:\I-S). a nd Arnet flying' in tig h t formation. By th e end of th e first la p . T urk was still hol ding th e point pos itio n . wi th Chris . Sh aw (Ya m ) by his elbow and Halcomb no t far b...hi nd . A few turn s later. FitzGibbo n disp la ced H a lc o mb . wh o would even tua lly drift o ut of rontention by the end or'the moto. By lap three Arnet had made h is way up through the traffic jam to sna tch lead the awav from Turk. The H on da rid er saw An; et move o n to bu ild a lead of abou t two seco nds . As the moto wore o n . Arnet had a lready picked up the pace and bega n usin g la p ped riders to keep d istance between himself a nd Tu rk. who wa s beginning to feel hea t from FitzGibbon , At the th ree-quart er mark . Turk a nd Fit zGi hbon w ere en gaged in a dogfight over serond, with FitzGibbon making repear ed pa ss a ttempts o n ly to have Turk cut him off or o u t-gas h im . FitzGibbon fin all y mad e a mo ve that stu ck o n th e hack side o f the track to steal s...cond. whi ch he maintained to the fini sh . Bv th e ti me th e chec kered na g had rome o ut, Arne t was in com mand with a su bsta n tia l lead , com p leti ng th e mot o a t a fairly-relaxed pace. FitzGibbon fin ished abou t eig h t seconds back . with T urk third. Th e sta n o f th e seco nd mo to was a push-and-sh ove match between Arnet and Turk as th e two riders co llided and a lmost lock ed bars in the first turn , For a few moments it looked like both riders were destined for a major soil sam pi e. but Arnet and Turk man ag ed to stra ig h ten th em selves o ut. In th e con fusion. how ever. FitzGibbon a nd Murrav slipped by to hold the top two po sitions. while Turk and Arnet began serio u sly roosting their way bac k to th e fr ont. But th ings didn 't seem to pan o u t C either Turk o r Arnet as th ev made or their wav aro und the track. T hen . as he crested sho rt, steep jump. FitzGibbon sudden ly lost mom entum and co nt ro l. letting Murray. Atkins and Turk by. As FitzGibbon slip ped back down th e jump. Arn et p lowed in to him and . no t surprising ly. both riders went dow n big-tim e, Now Arnet was way back and had 10 lap s in which to save th e overa ll, or lose it in stead . Once underwa y again. Arn ct rod e wid e-open in a do-or -die effon to ca tch up with T u rk. But reclaiming the lost gr o und was diffi cult. and a t th e end of th e moto Arnet co u ld do no bett...r th an seco nd. with FitzGibbon following in third. Turk had won handilv. and hi s 3-1 score pla ced him second o yera ll. a FitzGibboil was th ird o vera ll wi th a 2-3. while An1('['s 1-2 was good fo r first and top cash. Am et had a slig h tly eas ier job cut ou t for h im as he rod e a H onda in the I25cc Pros. goingon to cla im the overa ll o yer J o h n Co nney (Ka w) an d Craig Whi te (SUl). Arn et scra mb les for the lead in the first rn or o , after disposi ng of Canney and Wh ite. then cr u isingon . for the win. T he seco nd moto was an exa ct duplione, wit h Arn et win ni ng the overa ll oyer Co nnev and White. By the tim e the fina l O pen P ro mo ta rolled around. Arn et was o n hi s thi rd ma ke of bike a nd h is sixth mota . making h im prett y tired. Earl ier in the day . th e first ro u nd sa w Arn et tak e an easv win o ver ;\I-Star pil ot Pete Mu rray and Dave Folt z (Han ). But the serond mot o was different: Arnet had to eam it. Arn et go t off to a slo w start. with Murray o ut in front foll ow ed by Foltz. The'remainderof th e moto wa s spe nt as Arn et pi cked off riders in front of him . clearing the way for a sho t a t Murray. At the four-lap point in the moto, Arn ei slowly ga ined o n Mu rray and spent th e next lap or two lookingfor weaknesses in Murray's defcn scs. In the co up le o f lap s th at foll owed. Arn ct a lmost passed Murray. but then got passed back. Then . as he ta iled Murra v over a sma ll jump. Arn et got th e better o f hi s rival to fin all y cap ture th e lead, From that point o nwa rd. Arn et started building up dist an ce to comforta bly cr uise to hi s fifth moto win and third overa ll of th e day . • Results 80 BEG: 1. Radella trise (Kawt 2. Jonathan Knight (Kaw); 3 . Chri s Qu intanilla (Kaw). 80 JR: 1. Ed Redman (Kaw); 2. Manuel Garc ia (Kawt 3. Todd Uscombe (SUl). 80 tNT: 1. Beebe Zertuche (Kaw). 125 BEG: 1. Mike Carter (Kawt 2. Jutio M iranda (Hon t 3. Eddy KeUog (Kawt 125 JR : 1. Danny A lmond (Suzl; 2. Fred W illert (Suz); 3. Rat sun (Yam l. 1251NT: 1. John Flores (Kawl; 2. Todd Hayes (SUl); 3. Fernando Cintora (Kaw). 125 PRO: 1. Ed Arnet (Ha n ); Z. John Conney (Kawl; 3. Cra ig White (Sull. 250 BEG: 1. M ichael Edwar ds (Sull; 2. Pa ul Cassil las (Yaml ; 3. J esus Cassillas IVam). 250 JR : 1. Robert Beat y (Yom l; 2. Peter Tholl (Kaw) ; 3. Rick Saner (Suli. 250 INT: 1. M erced es Gonzal el IKawl; 2. M ike Hooker (Hu s); 3. David Biesiad a (Yam). 250 PRO , 1. Ed A ren t (Varni; 2. Do n Tur k (Han); 3. Ian FitzG ibbon (Yam). OPEN BEG : 1. Rich ard Zieg ler (Suz); 2. Br ad Ben nen(Hon ). OPEN JR : 1. Joe Clark (Hon); 2. De rek Von Hart man IHon ); 3. Kent Gr iffin (Han). OPEN INT; 1. M ar c Peter s (Kow); 2. Gr eg Smi th (Hon); 3 . Roger Guard (Hon). OPEN PRO : 1. Ed Arnet (Kaw l; 2. Pete M urray 1M-D); 3. Dove Foltz (Han ). VET JR: 1. David Chunn (Yam ); 2. Steve Gabrielson (Vom); 3. Joe Cossillas (Yam) . VET INT : 1. Dave J acobu s IHoo t 2. Dean Dlou hy (Yom l. , VET MSTR: 1. Dennis Cox (Ho n); 2. Kei th Petr an · gelo(Hus). aT MSTR: 1. Lars Larsson (Han l.

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